by Cat Connor
“Aidan never came,” I said, no accusation just fact. “We’re here on business.”
“Right, tell me what you need,” Holly replied. She knew better than to try to defend my brother’s actions. We’d work it out our way. I could still make him cry if I felt like it. A duck popped its head around the edge of the fridge, its beak bobbed up and down then it waddled away quacking.
“We found a customer of yours, and believe he might have two residences,” I said. It was best to get right to it with Holly. My hand pulled my notebook from my jacket pocket. I opened it to the relevant page and handed it to her. “That’s the address we were at … the home of Keith, Keith Jnr and Lily-Ann Blackwell.”
Holly gave it back. “I deliver to Keith senior, regularly. He orders books for his daughter and I deliver them to that address.”
My blood thickened and seemed to slow in my veins. Holly was a regular at that house. I shuddered and winced. She caught the shudder.
“Give.”
I shot her a look that said, not yet. “Did you deliver them anywhere else?”
“No. But …” she hoisted herself from a chair and disappeared into her adjacent office, calling, “I’ll be right back.”
Lee sipped his coffee. He leaned back in the chair until it balanced on two legs. I frowned at him. “You’ll fall.”
He smiled. “I doubt it.”
The temptation to tap one of the precariously balanced chair legs was hard to resist.
“It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye,” I cautioned.
Laughter erupted. “I’m not going to lose an eye by tipping on a chair.”
“They sound like famous last words.”
Holly called out from the office. “Lee, do as you’re told!”
He laughed. “Yes, mom.”
Holly returned clutching several bank-card receipts.
“These might help.” She handed them to me. “He always pays by credit card. I went through the receipts and he occasionally uses a different card, same name but MasterCard not Visa. And sometimes he picks up the books. I can’t remember if the times he picks them up coincide with him using a different card though.”
I looked over the receipts, different banks too.
“Thanks, Holly. I’ll check the addresses the banks have on file.”
“So what’s all this about? He seems like a nice man and a devoted father.”
I just bet he did. “What’s the daughter like? Lily-Ann?”
“Yeah, that’s right. She’s bright, bubbly, always pleased to get new books.”
“Does she read them all?”
“As far as I can tell, she sure talks about them when I bring new ones.”
“Her favorite this year?”
“That would be anything at all by A.S. King.”
“Did she talk about those books?”
“Yes, she did, in depth. Her favorite was Dust of a Hundred Dogs. She loved the main character and the whole pirate thing.”
I remembered seeing that book in her room. It stood out with its black, white and red cover. I’d opened it and was pretty sure it had never been read.
“Did her father order multiple copies of any books?”
Lee had the receipts, studying them intently.
He and Holly spoke at the same time, “He did.”
Lee continued, “Almost everything was bought twice but in separate transactions and using different cards.”
“I thought he was buying them as gifts for a niece or Lily-Ann’s friends. It seemed the sort of thing he’d do,” Holly replied. “He didn’t, did he?”
“We don’t think so.”
“What’s he done?”
“Nothing good, Holly. Nothing good,” Lee replied. “You don’t want to ask that question again.”
“Seriously? He seemed so nice.”
Reports on the six o’clock news also tell of how quiet people were and what good neighbors they were when mass graves were discovered in suburban backyards. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
“What’s that they say … never judge a book by its cover?” I added. “Any idea where Lily-Ann likes to hang out?”
“None, sorry.”
“Has she ever mentioned any school friends?”
“I don’t think so.” She thought about it for a minute. “She did once mention someone called Terry. I don’t know if that’s male or female or a school friend or what.”
While Lee wrote everything down, I watched Holly looking for signs that she remembered anything else.
“How long ago did she mention this Terry person?” I asked. Terry sounded awful like Troy as it bounced through my head.
“Last week.”
Damn, she was there that recently.
“When you go to the house, do you go inside?”
Holly nodded. “I usually stop in for a coffee.”
My heart wanted to stop. It thumped slowly then faltered. I waited. It gave an almighty bang and resumed normal rhythm. I looked over at Lee. His head nodded ever so slightly. I knew he was about to take over the questions.
“How long do you stay?” he asked keeping his voice light as the situation allowed.
“About a half hour, sometimes three-quarters of an hour, it all depends how many deliveries I’m making and the order in which I do them. We often have a chat and a coffee. Lily-Ann gets her books. Then I leave.”
“You ever seen anyone else there?”
“Just Lily-Ann and the son. They just call him Junior.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What is this all about?”
“Remember earlier when I said you don’t want to ask that question?”
“Uh huh.”
He moved to the next question. “Did you ever see any cars parked out front, ones you didn’t recognize as belonging to the household?”
Holly faltered. I watched as she backed up her thoughts. “Yes, I did. On three occasions, I think it was three. Different cars were in the driveway. I never saw anyone else in the house though.”
“You’re doing great, Holly. It’s never easy trying to remember things that didn’t make an impression to start with,” Lee said, reassuring her. “Let’s think about noises.” He paused a moment. “Noises, did you ever hear anything on the property or in the house that required some explanation?”
Holly frowned. “Like?”
“Like any noise that would seem out of place?” I intervened. “Just something you didn’t expect to hear.”
I watched her thinking. It was quite entertaining. Her lips moved. Her eyebrows knitted. She tapped her hand against her knee. Her foot tapped against the table leg. Tempted though I was to ask outright if she ever heard any females screaming, the words in my head reminded me not to lead the witness. Let her answer the questions she wants to, the way she wants to. I sat on my hands. To prevent myself reaching out and shaking her. Hurry up, dammit. How hard is it? Did anyone ever scream or not?
She stopped fidgeting. “There was this one time …”
Before I could stop the association my mind jumped to American Pie and finished Holly’s sentence. “At band camp.” I looked up to see Holly staring at me like I’d sprouted horns. “Oh, crap. I said that out loud, huh?”
She grinned. “We should watch American Pie again.”
“No, we really shouldn’t.”
Lee coughed.
Holly rephrased her opening. “There was this one … once … while I was there, Lily-Ann wasn’t around. I heard something that sounded like a terrified scream.”
“His response?” Lee asked.
“He sent the son to check it out, saying it was probably a spider that scared Lily. She was apparently in her room. Was the first time she hadn’t met me at the door.”
“How long ago would you say that was?”
“Three weeks. Lily-Ann met me last time.”
“Thanks, Holly,” Lee said.
Holly smiled. She picked up the coffee pot from the counter top and refilled our cups
. It was time to change the subject.
“What’s Aidan up to?” Some chitchat about my brother, her husband, should be enough of a subject change. I could talk about his work without feeling like throttling him. Progress.
“He’s spending less time on the road these days. It’s been nice. More and more he’s dealing with assessing insurance claims closer to home.”
“Good.”
“Are you still active on the Foundation forums?”
“Sporadic at best these days. I keep an eye on things but haven’t been posting a lot. Still getting tons of emails from the kids on there though.” What I didn’t say was, it gets filtered by my mail program and sent to my dad to handle. I don’t answer their emails. Not since Carla.
“Aidan mentioned he hadn’t seen you much lately.” She smiled. “Before your crash. He mentioned he hadn’t seen much of you.” It was a knowing, almost cunning smile. “How’s Mitch?”
And there it was. The reason for the smile.
“He’s fine.”
“Anything to report?”
“Nope, not a thing.”
Lee stood up. Damn he was good. He tapped his phone. “We should get going, Ellie. Before traffic gets heavy.”
“Absolutely.”
A lucky escape executed before Holly could ask more Mitch questions.
Forty-Seven
Screaming For Vengeance
We stood on the street not far from rubble and remnants of chaos.
“Great, the whole gang’s here,” I said. The circle closed in. Last time we stood like that, all hell had broken loose and nothing was ever the same again. Sun warmed my back. The breeze chased long strands of hair across my face. I dragged a hair tie off my wrist and tied my hair back into a no-nonsense ponytail.
I looked around. This time there were more of us. This time I had an assortment of people that no one fucks with.
Breathe.
Words fell without checking. I took two virtual steps away from the chaos that enveloped me.
“Right, let’s break this down. You listening?” I nudged Sam. His gaze was fixed over my head and at something on the street. I turned to see what was so captivating. What was left of NCIS had arrived. They stopped and didn’t approach our huddle. I guessed they were waiting for word from the boss. That’s when it occurred to me, the boss was me.
“Listening, Chicky Babe,” Sam said.
I waved them over. “Introduce yourselves, please. Go left around the circle.”
I waited for everyone to get acquainted.
“Take notes boys and girls, this is about to get messy.” I shuffled all my ducks in a row. They quacked but obliged. “Danni Lane, our happy little author, stalker, Interpol agent, is working both ends. News to some of you, I’m sure. My cyber guy has been working his ass off and we have names, dates and places.” I looked at Kennedy. “This next phase, you three are sitting it out. You have no jurisdiction here.
“From the search of the Blackwell residence we can now confirm that both Special Agent Justin Troy and Senator Robinson are linked to the trafficking and torture of thirty-five girls aged between twelve and nineteen.”
Blackwell kept detailed ledgers. It hadn’t taken long to unravel his code and work out who Juliet and Sierra were. Blackwell was a lot of things but he wasn’t the sharpest pencil when it came to codes. “This case has tried the hell out of us. Failure is not an option. We will get these pricks.”
No one said anything. Frowns greeted me as I glanced around the circle.
“None of this goes any further. Someone within the FBI has altered orders I’ve given. It’s not Justin Troy, although he’s probably passing information to this person.” I paused again. “The second Blackwell residence netted a ton of evidence. Delta B are processing that now. We confirmed the kid with Blackwell is his daughter and she was used in about fifty porn photos and videos from the age of five. Well, we think she was five, going by the photos. Unfortunately, neither the child nor Keith Blackwell were at the residence. My feeling is that they are with the persons behind the trafficking and the whole set up. And that leads me to our mission this morning …”
Jen from NCIS interrupted, “What happened to the Lane woman? Is she still an issue?”
“I shoulder shot her after she pulled a gun on me in my room … long story …”
Go me. Shoot the nut job.
I frowned then forced the frown away, smoothing my brow with my fingers. I do not need this craziness turning my face into a road map of wrinkles.
“So she’s not an issue?” Jen asked, looking over my shoulder.
My heart sank. “She’s behind me somewhere, isn’t she?”
Jen nodded.
“I don’t even care how she was turned loose again, can one of you do the honors, please?” And then added, “Not the UN.”
Jen winked. “I got this.” She stepped out of the circle and approached Danni. I turned and watched. Something niggled at my gut. Why was Danni here? What could she possibly achieve by lurking near our impromptu outdoor meeting?
We’re all together. Ah, crap!
A little yellow duck quacked from the sidewalk by Danni’s foot. As I glanced at the duck, I saw the dark shape in her hand. She moved her arm and I saw what I thought was a wire leading into her sleeve. I blinked. It wasn’t a gun.
“Jen!” My voice rang out across the expanse of sidewalk and road between us. She half-turned. “Come back.” Jen’s hand rested on the SIG she wore on her hip.
I felt Sam and Lee tense next to me. Lee stepped back to cover Mitch as I moved forward, gun in hand.
“Don’t do it!” I yelled at Danni.
She smiled and shook her head. I had one shot, no mistakes. Had to be clean and hit her before she triggered an explosion.
I aimed and fired and watched as the bullet tore through her forehead. Jen rushed to Danni, she grabbed the black object from her hand before she let it go. She dropped to the ground with the body holding the black object firmly.
“Dead man’s switch,” she called. “I got it.”
There was a collective exhale of breath from around me. Lee got on the phone to the bomb squad.
“Don’t move,” Kennedy said, running toward her. His voice was muffled but I heard him say, “Let’s have a look at the setup.”
I tried to move but Kurt grabbed my arm.
“No.”
“No?” I queried.
“Stay with us here. In fact, we’re moving back to some cover.”
Kennedy looked over and gave the same hand signal, three times. The instruction was cover. He followed it with a distance. Two hundred yards. Jeez.
Sam motioned to us then headed across the deserted road. He stopped beside a building. We followed. I made sure Lee and Mitch were in front of me. I didn’t want to lose anyone. About three hundred yards down the road was a roadblock, so thankfully, no traffic could come our way.
I spoke to Kurt, “How many of the buildings around here are occupied now?”
“I don’t know. We can’t evacuate onto this street.”
“I know, but we have to clear those buildings.”
“Not you,” he said. “You will stay here with Mitch.” He turned to the rest of the group and started giving orders.
Nagging feelings of doom threatened to overpower me. I saw rubble. I saw smoke. I saw flames. My throat tightened. I couldn’t breathe.
“No one moves,” I said. “No one.”
Mitch’s hand touched the small of my back. “What’s the matter?” he whispered in my ear. “New explosions?”
“Yes,” I whispered back.
Everyone froze. Their eyes on me as I said, “We don’t know where she was before she appeared on the street.” No one moved or spoke. “There have been too many attempts on our lives. No one moves.”
“Bomb squad are five minutes away,” Lee said.
“We may not have five minutes. I’m going to Kennedy. No one moves.” I can give direct orders when necessary. I sho
t a warning at Kurt. “No discussion.”
Shaking off everything that wouldn’t help me I stepped out of the shade and walked to Kennedy and Jen.
“Can you disable the switch?” I said.
“Yes, or no, we won’t know until Jen lets it go,” Kennedy replied.
“You ready to run, Jen?” I asked and smiled.
“You bet.”
Kennedy never took his eyes off what he was doing with the explosive device. A vest and several long thin blocks of Semtex.
“How much do you think?”
“Enough to bring down a building,” Kennedy said. Beads of perspiration gathered on his forehead. He wiped the trickles away with impatience. “I don’t know if this will work. Prayers wouldn’t go amiss.” His hand covered Jen’s and the small black unit that contained the switch. “Ready, Jen?”
“Yep,” Jen said. She took a deep breath.
“Stand slowly,” he said, still crouched on the ground by the body. His hand traveled with hers as she stood. “I’m going to take this switch out of your hand. You and Conway are going to run. I’ll be right behind you.”
“You better be,” I muttered, taking Jen’s free hand. “We stay together.”
“Okay by me,” she said.
I took several deep breaths and reminded myself I run all the time, this is no different. Same ol’ same ol’.
“On three,” Kennedy said. “One … two … go.”
Jen’s hand was free. We ran. Heavy footsteps behind us told me Kennedy was coming too. As we hit the corner of the building, he slammed into us knocking us down, all the air forced from my lungs. Kennedy’s arm was over my head. The ground shook. I turned my head under his arm and watched as concrete, wood, and rubble fell from the air, smashing down behind us. Smoke and dust billowed. flowing over us, making the air thick and gritty as it fell.
“Holy crap,” Jen murmured.
“Yeah,” I said. “Kennedy?”
I pushed his arm off me and crawled away using the wall next to me to help me stand.
“Conway?” Kennedy said rolling over. “Jen?”
“We’re good,” Jen replied. “You hurt?”
“Don’t think so,” he replied.
From down the alleyway, we heard coughing. Kurt, Sam, Lee and Mitch appeared from the swirling dust. Holmes, Jones and Kathy followed.